


Story time with Emet-Selch

by sorensen



Series: Adventures with Ascians [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Ambiguous Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), F/M, Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Gen, Unnamed Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 23:28:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20366866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sorensen/pseuds/sorensen
Summary: The Warrior of Light likes to drink at the Pendants when she has free time.Emet-Selch likes to take to opportunity to pester her as she does so, in the name of good relations.





	Story time with Emet-Selch

"Hello, Warrior," Emet-Selch said, walking out of a portal and into the Pendants in the Crystarium. A few of the nearby citizens gasped before the more familiar residents hushed them. "It's just Emet-Selch," they'd say. "He's just here to try and woo the Warrior again," and the warrior would watch as Emet-Selch tried to ignore their titterings. 

She supposed it had been a long time since Emet-Selch was just anything. 

"Emet-Selch," she replied, toasting her drink in his direction before taking a long sip. The bartenders at the Pendants had long gotten used to the idea that the quiet warrior preferred fruity, frilly drinks, and her toast sent several the plethora of cherries on the drink toppling.

Emet-Selch snapped his fingers at the pout now adorning the warrior's face, replenishing her supply of the too-sweet fruits. Said warrior spent a quick smile at how her drink had no longer betrayed her. "Isn't it a little early in the day for your kind to be out and about?" The warrior finally asked, quirking an eyebrow in his direction and pointedly glancing toward the natural daylight.

"I am not allergic to the sun, you dreadful peasant," Emet-Selch said as he sat down on the barstool nearest to the warrior. As this was far from the first time the Ascian had called her a 'peasant,' the warrior mostly ignored his response before taking a long sip of her drink, content to mostly ignore the man sitting next to her. "You. Bartender. My bottle, if you please." The Ascian's statement was hardly required as the bartender had already been pulling said bottle from underneath a counter and had begun to pour a glass of the aged bourbon over ice.

The Architect had initially tried to drink the 'proper swill' they'd had at the bar. He'd complained the entire night, before next appearing with his own case of centuries-old bourbon to partake in. He'd made it extremely clear that if anyone else touched the alcohol that he would both know, and introduce the peasant who had what the depths of the desert of light would feel like.

As such, it was far from the first time that the Ascian had intruded upon the warrior's night, at what she would like to say her displeasure, but she supposed his company was mildly entertaining. After enough drinks, it was moderately easy to prod the Ascian into telling long rambling stories about the civilizations of old and the particular role he'd had in both forming and dismantling them. The uneasy truce that had formed between the two of them following his rescue of Y'shtola from the Lifestream had lead to this informal agreement. Toward the end of the day when the warrior was in residence at the Crystarium, she would tolerate his presence, and he would try and convince her to stop treating him like an unwanted guest during her questing.

"Warrior, you -do- know how to speak, do you not?" Emet-Selch petulantly asked one night, after a rather long story about how Lahabrea had once accidentally created a variant of a dog because he'd sneezed while creating it. 

"Hm?" The warrior asked, seemingly without irony, looking over at him. "You rarely speak. Even when surrounded by your half-sundered "friends," you are rare to speak unless directly asked a question. Does it not bother you to have your choices made for you so often?"

"No, not really." The warrior said, before tapping the counter in front of her, subtly requesting another drink. It was going to be one of those nights. "It's not like that, really. Alphinaud, Y'shtola, Alisaie... I've worked with all of them for so long I don't think I really need to speak to them anymore. Especially Alphinaud. There's a decent chance he can just read my mind at this point."

"Be that as it may, that was probably one of the longer sentences you've deigned to speak to me."

"I wasn't aware you were so put out by how infrequently I talked. I've never spoken much. In case you haven't noticed, Viera aren't exactly plentiful on the Source, and I already stood out enough, what with these," she said, pulling on her long ears.

"You remind me of someone I knew once," Emet-Selch began, "back when my people were around. When the planet was still whole. We grew up together, her, myself, and a few other age-mates." The Ascian took a long drink of his bourbon before continuing, "She never liked to stand out either, but no matter where she went, she drew attention."

"How come?"

"Oh, she was magnificent. She had a way with the Lifestream that was rare in our kind, even in those days. She was particularly talented in creating plants and lifeforms that left the area they were placed in better for it after. Unusually skilled at picking up on nearly anything that could be taught, as well. She hated the attention it brought her though and typically refused to take part in anything that would bring some her way."

"You liked her." The warrior said softly, attention entirely on the Ascian for once.

"I did. It was impossible not to. She was the one who pushed me to become Emet-Selch because it meant I'd be on the Convocation, and truly, I do love being the Architect. She did the same thing to Lahabrea and Elidibus. None of us would be where we were at the end if it hadn't been for her."

"What happened to her then, at the end? Was she one of your million souls?"

"No. No, she refused to take part in the sacrifice. It was baffling, at first. Until Hydaelyn."

"What do you mean?"

"We didn't realize, at first, which was foolish of us. Who else but she could convince the remaining portion of our people to sacrifice themselves to summon another primal, but this one tied into the Lifestream such as Hydaelyn is? In the end, she split our planet into fourteen pieces and betrayed us all."

"What happened to her after? Didn't you mention something about re-elevating the souls of other Ascians to their previous roles? Could you not just elevate her?"

"We have no idea. Just as we are unsure why Lahabrea, Elidibus and myself survived the sundering when no others did. She has the answers to many questions, but her soul has long been hidden from us."

The warrior threw back the rest of her drink before adding, "Well, one of your questions you have the answer to at least."

"What are you talking about, warrior."

"Didn't you say Lahabrea, Elidibus and yourself had been her friends? Of course she would spare you the sundering if she could have. It's what I'd do for the Scions, even if I disagreed with them in the end." The warrior placed her gil on the bar before packing up her few items. They were off to Amh Araeng in the morning, Thancred would likely never let her hear the end of it if she tried to conquer a city with a hangover.

As she waved and walked away, the Ascian nursed the remained of his drink, briefly occupied with just how similar the Warrior of Darkness was to his late wife. Admittedly though, it had to be a coincidence, he convinced himself. Though the warrior was clearly a former Amaurotine citizen, it was impossible that he wouldn't recognize her soul, even fractured though it was, completely forgetting that even her Miq'uote friend who saw only in aether had been unable to verify her soul, tainted as though it was with light.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little interlude that doesn't really fit in with my other WoL, but I felt compelled to write anyway. Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Hey! Do you read FFXIV fics (I know you do, you're reading this)? Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/GsPXrc5  
We're a gang of FFXIV readers/writers/artists/game players who are all incredibly supportive of each other and somehow both thirsty and wholesome! (I may or may not have made an Emet-Selch bot~~~ )


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